faiah.

prophets.

And the rest of the holy

writers. 9.

Ezekiel.

But be the books ever fo genuine, and their tradition ever fo certain, yet we canrot fuppofe them wrote by perfons divineIv infpired, fo long as we fee in them certain characters inconfiftent with fuch a fuppofition. Surely the pureft language, the mot perfect ftyle, the greatest clearnefs, the most exact method, the foundest reafoning, the man of apparent confiftency, and, in a word, all the excellencies of good writing, might be expected in a piece compofed or dictated by the Spirit of God; but books wherein we find the reverfe of all this it is idle, if not impious, to afcribe to the Deity.

1. One great miftake which the generality of readers run into, is, to judge of the compofition of the Scripture, not from its original, but from its tranflations: for, beides that in ancient writings, fuch as the Bible is, there are allufions to many rites and customs that are now laid afide; and, for this reafon, muft needs feem flat or impertinent; which, when they were in cfe, had a great deal of fpirit and propriety in them; and befides that the Hebrew, in particular, is a language of a peculiar caft, both in the contexture of its words, and the cadence of its periods, and contains certain expreffions, whofe emphafis can no more be tranflated into another language, than the water of a diamond can be painted, without detracting from the original: befides all this, I fay, the tranflators themselves, fometimes by running into mistakes, and at all times by adering too religiously to the letter of the text, have contributed not a little to make the ftyle of the Sacred Writings appear lefs advantageous. For, whereas other

tranflators have taken a liberty to accommodate the beauties of the language whereinto they tranflate, to the idioms of that wherein their author wrote; thefe have thought themselves restrained from ufing fuch freedom in a divine compofition; and have therefore left feveral Hebraic, and other foreign phrases in their verfion, which feem a little uncouth, and give the reader, who can look no farther, a very odd notion of the original: though it is certainly manifeft, that the most elegant piece of oratory that ever was framed, if we render it literally, and not give it the true genius of the language whereunto we are admitting it, will lofe all its beauty, and appear with the fame disadvantage.

II. Another mistake that we run into, is, when we confine eloquence to any nation, and account that the only proof of it, which is accommodated to the present taste. We indeed, in these European countries, whofe languages, in a great measure, are derived from Greek and Latin, make them the patterns for our imitation, and account them the standard of perfection: but there is no reason why the eastern nations, whofe languages have no affinity with them, fhould do the fame; much lefs is it reasonable to expect it in writers who lived long before these Greek or Latin authors, we to much admire, were born. It is fufficient for them that they wrote according to the fashionable, and esteemed eloquence of their own times: but that the Holy Ghoft should infpire with certain schemes of fpeech, adapted to the modern tafte, and fuch as were utterly unknown in the countries where they lived, is a thing

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that can never enter into any fober man's confideration. The truth is, fince Mofes was bred up in all the refined learning and wifdom of the Egyptians; fince Solomon was excellent in all kind of knowledge, and in a manner idolized by the eastern world; and fince Daniel's promifing youth was improved by the learning of the Chaldean fages; we have all the reafon imaginable to believe, that they wrote according to the perfection of ftyle which was then in ufe; that though their eloquence differs from ours, yet it is excellent in its kind; and that, if we have other notions of it, it is only becaufe we are unacquainted with thofe bold allegories, and figurative ways of difcourfe; thofe dark fentences, furprifing brevities, and inconnected tranfitions, wherein the nature of their true fublime did confift.

HI. Another mistake we run into is, when we fuppofe that the critical rules of eloquence are any ways neceflary in divine compofitions. The defign of God, in recording his laws, was to inform our underftandings, to cure our paffions, and rectify our wills; and if this end be but attained, it is no great matter in what form of diction the prefcription be given. We never expect that a phyfician's receipt fhould be wrote in a Ciceronian ftyle; and if a lawyer has made us a firm conveyance of an eftate, we never inquire what elegancies there are in the writing. When, therefore, God intends to do us far greater things than thefe; when he is delivering the terms of our falvation, and prescribing the rules of our duty; why fhould we expect that he should infit on the niceties of tyle and expreffion, and not rather account it a diminution of his authority, to be elaborate in trifles, when he has the momentous iffues of another life to command our attention, and affect our paffions? In fome of the greatest works of nature, God has not confined himself to any fuch order and exactness. The ftars, we fee, are not caft into regular figures; lakes and rivers are not bounded by ftraight lines; nor are hills and mountains exact cones or pyramids. When a mighty prince declares his will by laws and edicts to his fubjects, is he, do we think, careful at all about a pure ftyle, or elegant compofition? Is not the phrafe thought proper enough, if it conveys as much as was intended? And would not the fine ftrains of fome modern critics be thought pedantic and affected on

fuch occafions? Why then fhould we ex pect in the Oracles of God an exactnefs that would be unbecoming, and beneath the dignity of an earthly monarch, and which bears no proportion or refemblance to the magnificent works of the creation? A ftrict obfervation of the rules of grammar and rhetoric, in elegant expreffions, harmonious periods, and technical defini tions and partitions, may gratify indeed fome readers; but then it must be granted that thefe things have the air of human contrivance in them; whereas in the fim. ple, unaffected, artlefs, unequal, bold, figu rative ftyle of the Holy Scriptures, there is a character fingularly great and majefic, and what looks more like divine infpiration, than any other form of compofition.

Thefe obfervations being premifed, if we fhould now confider the nature of eloquence in general, as it is defined by Aritotle to be a faculty of perfuafion, which Cicero makes to confift in three things, inftructing, delighting, and moving our readers or hearers mind, we shall find that the Holy Scriptures have a fair claim ta thefe feveral properties.

For where can we meet with fuch a plain reprefentation of things, in point of hiftory, and fuch cogent arguments, in point of precept, as this one volume farnifhes us with? Where is there an hiftory written more fimply and naturally, and at the fame time more nobly and loftily, than that of the creation of the world? Where are the great leffons of morality taught with fuch force and perfpicuity (except in the fermons of Chrift, and the writings of the apoftles), as in the book of Deuteronomy? Where is the whole compafs of devotion, in the feveral forms of confer fion, petition, fupplication, thanksgiving, vows, and praifes, fo punctually taught us, as in the book of Pfalms? Where are the rules of wisdom and prudence fo convincingly laid down, as in the Proverbs of Solomon, and the choice fentences of Ecclefiaftes? Where is vice and impiety of all kinds more justly displayed, and more fully confuted, than in the threats and admonitions of the prophets? And what do the little warmths, which may be raised in the fancy by an artificial compofure and vehemence of style, fignify in comparison of thofe ftrong impulfes and movements which the Holy Scriptures make upon good men's fouls, when they reprefent the fright

fal juftice of an angry God to ftubborn offenders, and the bowels of his compaffion, and unspeakable kindness, to all true penitents and faithful fervants?

The Holy Scripture indeed has none of thofe flashy ornaments of fpeech, wherewith human compofitions to plentifully abound; but then it has a fufficient flock of real and peculiar beauties to recommend it. To give one inftance for all out of the hiftory of Jofeph and his family: the whole relation indeed is extremely natural: but the manner of his discovering himfelf to his brethren is inimitable. "And Jofeph could no longer refrain himfelf bet, lifting up his voice with tears, faidI am Jofeph-doth my father yet live? And his brethren could not answer him; for they were troubled at his prefence. Aad Jofeph faid to his brethren, come ar me, I pray you: and they came near, and he faid I am Jofeph-your brother hom ye fold into Egypt." Nothing cainly can be a more lively defcription floph's tender refpect for his father, and love for his brethren: and, in like mer, when his brethren returned, and eir father in what fplendor and gery is fon Jofeph lived, it is faid, "that Jacob's heart fainted, for he believed them rot; but when he faw the waggons which feph had fent for him, the fpirit of Jacob, their father, revived; and Ifrael faid, it is enough-Jofeph my fon is yet alive -I will go-and fee him-before I die." Here is fuch a contraft of different paffions, of utter defpondency, dawning hope, and confirmed faith, triumphant joy, and paternal affection, as no orator in the world could exprefs more movingly, in a more ealy manner, or fhorter compafs of words.

Nay more, had I leifure to gratify the carious, I might eafily fhew, that thofe very figures and fchemes of fpeech, which are fo much admired in profane authors, as their great beauties and ornaments, are no where more confpicuous than in the facred.

One figure, for inftance, efteemed very fiorid among the masters of art, is, when all the members of a period begin with the fame word. The figure is called anaphora; and yet (if I mistake not) the 15th palm affords us a very beautiful paffre of this kind. "Lord, who fhall de in thy tabernacle? Who fhall dwell is thy holy hill? He that walketh upsightly; he that back-biteth not with his

tongue; he that maketh much of them that fear the Lord; he that fweareth to his hurt, and changeth not; he that putteth not out his money to ufury, nor taketh reward against the innocent. He that does these things fhall never be moved."

The ancient orators took a great deal of pride in ranging finely their antitheta. Cicero is full of this, and ufes it many times to a degree of affectation; and yet I cannot find any place wherein he has furpaffed that paffage of the prophet." He that killeth an ox, is as if he flew a man ; he that facrificeth a lamb, as if he cut off a dog's neck; he that offereth an oblation, as if he offered fwine's blood." But above all other figures, that whereon poets and orators love chiefly to dwell, is the hypotypofis, or lively defcription; and yet we thall hardly find in the best claffic authors, any thing comparable, in this regard, to the Egyptians' deftruction in the Red Sea, related in the fong of Mofes and Miriam; to the defcription of the Leviathan in Job; to the defcent of God, and a ftorm at fea in the Pfalmift; to the intrigues of an adulterous woman in the Proverbs; to the pride of the Jewish ladies in Ifaiah; and to the plague of locufts in Joel; which is reprefented like the ravaging of a country; and ftorming a city by an army: "A fire devoureth before them, and behind them a defolate wilderness, and nothing fhall efcape them. Before their face people fhall be pained; all faces fhall gather blackness. They fhall run like mighty men; they fhall climb the wall like men of war; they fhall march every one in his way, and they fhall not break their ranks. They fhall run to and fro in the city; they fhall run upon the wall; they fhall climb up upon the houfes; they fhall enter into the windows as a thief." The defcription is more remarkable, becaufe the analogy is carried quite throughout without training, and the whole proceffes of a conquering army in the manner of their march, their deftroying the provifion, and burning the country, in their scaling the walls, breaking into houfes, and running about the vanquished city, are fully delineated and fet before our eyes.

From these few example (for it would be end'efs to proceed in inftances of this kind) it appears, that the Holy Bible is far from being defective in point of eloquence; and (what is a peculiar commendation of it) its ftyle is full of a grateful U 3

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variety; fometimes majestic as becomes that "high and holy one who inhabiteth eternity;" fometimes fo low as to answer the other part of his character," who dwelleth with him that is of an humble fpirit;" and, at all times fo proper, and adapted fo well to the feveral fubjects it treats of, that whoever confiders it attentively will perceive, in the narrative parts of it, a ftrain fo fimple and unaffected; in the prophetic and devotional, fomething fo animated and fublime; and in the doctrinal and preceptive, fuch an air of dignity and authority, as feems to speak its original divine.

We allow indeed, that method is an excellent art, highly conducive to the clearnes and perfpicuity of difcourfe; but then we affirm, that it is an art of modern invention in comparison to the times when the facred pengen wrote, and incompati. ble with the manner of writing which was then in vogue. We indeed in Europe, who, in this matter, have taken our examples from Greece, can hardly read any thing with pleafure that is not digefted into order, and forted under proper heads; but the eastern nations, who were ufed to a free way of difcourfe, and never cramped their notions by methodical limitations, would have defpifed a compofition of this kind, as much as we do a fchool-boy's theme, with all the formalities of its exordiums, ratios, and confirmations. And, if this was no precedent for other nations, much lefs can we think, that God Almighty's methods ought to be confined to human laws, which, being defigned for the narrowness of our conceptions, might be improper and injurious to his, whofe "thoughts are as far above ours, as the heavens are higher than the earth."

The truth is, infpiration is, in fome meafore, the language of another world, and carries in it the reafoning of fpirits, which, without controverfy, is vastly different from ours. We indeed, to make things lie plain before our understandings, are forced to fort them out into diftinct partitions, and confider them by little and little, that fo at last, by gradual advances, we may come to a tolerable conception of them; but this is no argument for us to think that pure fpirits do reafon after this Their understandings are quick and intuitive: they fee the whole compafs of rational inferences at once; and have no need of thofe little methodical diftinc

tions which oftentimes help the imperfec tions of our intellects. Now, though we do not affert, that the language of the Holy Scriptures is an exact copy of the reafoning of the fpiritual world; yet, firce they came by the infpiration of the Holy Ghoft, it is but reasonable to expect that they should preferve some small relish of it; as books tranflated into another tongue always retain fome marks of their originals. And hence it comes to pafs, that though the Holy Ghoft does vouchsafe to fpeak in the language of men, yet, in his divine compofitions, there are fome traces to be found of that bold and unlimited ratioci nation which is peculiar to the heavenly inhabitants, whofe noble and flaming thoughts are never clogged with the cold and jejune laws of human method.

Stackhoufe.

§ 202. A Prayer or Pfalm. Most gracious Lord God, my mercife Father; from my youth up, my Creator, my Redeemer, my Comforter. Thou, Q Lord, foundest and fearcheft the depths and fecrets of all hearts; thou acknow ledgeft the upright of heart; thou judgeâ the hypocrite; thou pondereft men's thoughts and doings as in a balance; thou meafureft their intentions as with a line; vanity and crooked ways cannot be ha from thee.

Remember, O Lord, how thy fervant hath walked before thee; remember what I have first fought, and what hath been principal in my intantions. I have loved thy affemblies, I have mourned for the di visions of thy church, I have delighted in the brightness of thy fanctuary. This vinç, which thy right hand hath planted in this nation, I have ever prayed unto thee, that it might have the first and the latter rain, and that it might ftretch her branches to the feas and to the floods. The ftate and bread of the poor and oppreffed have been precious in mine eyes; I have hated a cruelty and hardnefs of heart; I have (though in a defpifed weed) procured the good of all men. If any have been my enemies, I thought not of them, neither hath the fun almost fet upon my difpleafures, but I have been as a dove, free from fuperfluity of malicioufnefs. Thy creatures have been my books, but thy Scriptures much more. I have fought thee is the courts, fields, and gardens; but I have found thee in thy temples.

Thoufands

Thousands have been my fins, and ten thousands my tranfgreffions, but thy fanctifications have remained with me, and my beat (through thy grace) hath been an unquenched coal upon thine altar.

O Lord, my ftrength! I have fince my youth met with thee in all my ways, by tay fatherly compaffions, by thy comfortable chaftifements, and by thy most visible providence. As thy favours have encreafed upon me, fo have thy corrections; fo as thou hast been always near me, O Lord! And ever as my worldly blefings were exalted, fo fecret darts from thee have pierced me; and when I have afcended before men, I have defcended in humiliation before thee. And now, when I ought most of peace and honour, thy hand is Leary upon me, and hath humbled me according to thy former loving-kindnefs, keeping me fill in thy fatherly fchool, not as a bailard, but as a child. Juft are thy judgments upon me for my fins, which are more in number than the fands of the fea, but have no proportion to thy merties; for what are the funds of the fea? Et, heavens, and all thele, are nothing to thy mercies. Befides my innumerable f. I confeis before thee, that I am a or to thee for the gracious talent of gifts and graces, which I have neither ito a napkin, nor put it, as I ought, to exchangers, where it might have made bed proft, but mis-spent it in things for wach I was leaft fit; fo I may truly fay, my foul hath been a stranger in the courfe of my pilgrimage. Be merciful unto me, O Lord, for my Saviour's fake, and receive me into thy bofom, or guide me into thy Lord Bacon.

Ways.

$203. The derine of Christ a doctrine

this doctrine of Chrift, I fay, in its native fimplicity and purity, is fo reafonabie, fo excellent, and of fuch irrefiftible evidence, that had it never been corrupted by fuperflitions from within, it never could have been oppofed by power from without; but it mult of neceffity have captivated mankind to the obedience of faith; 'till the knowledge of the Lord had filled the earth, as the waters cover the fea.—

Whatever difficulties there may be in fome of the hiftorical, or prophetical, or controverfial parts of the books of Scripture, yet as to the practical part, the duties required of a Chriftian in order to falvation, there is no man that ever read the fermons of Chrift and his apoftles, or ever heard them read, but understood perfectly well what our Saviour meant by commanding us to worship the one true God of nature, the Author and Lord of the univerfe, and to do to all men as we would they fhould do to us; and that, " denying ungodlinefs and worldly lufts, we fhould live foberly, righteoufly, and godly in this prefent world in expectation of being righteoully and impartially adjudged, according to our works, to a flate of happinefs or mifery in the world to come; by our Saviour himself, cur merciful and compaffionate judge. There never was any man in the chriftian world, but felt the reafonablenefs and importance of this doctrine; and, whenever these things have been repeated to him, was immediately confcious to himself, either of having followed or tranfgrefled thefe precepts.

Dr. Clark.

$204. On the fuperiority of Sacred Hiftory and Chriftian Philofophy.

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